About the production
- Run time: 1hrs 40min
- Sung in: Italian
- Surtitles: English
- Opera house: Teatro La Fenice
Based on the eternal Orpheus myth, this opera is about a love so strong that it reaches beyond the grave. Orfeo (Cecilia Molinari) is so consumed with grief at the death of his beloved Euridice (Mary Bevan) that the gods (Silvia Frigato as Amor) allow him to lead her back from the underworld—if he will not look at her on the way. Of course he can’t resist looking, but the gods are truly merciful. Ottavio Dantone conducts Gluck’s elegant score, a pinnacle of the Baroque repertoire.
Ticket information
- Select a date an book
- E-Ticket (Print@home)
Teatro La Fenice
Address:
Campo San Fantin, 1965, 30124 Venice
How to get there:
from Tronchetto: line 2 direction/via Rialto bridge, St Mark, Lido
from Piazzale Roma, Ferrovia: line 1 or 2 direction/via Rialto bridge, St Mark Lido
Stops: Line 1 - Rialto bridge, St Angel, St Samuel or St Mark (Vallaresso)
Line 2 - Rialto bridge or St Mark (Vallaresso)
World Premiere: Burgtheater, Vienna, 1762. Orfeo ed Euridice is one of the most important operas of 18th century. Gluck turned to the legend of Orpheus as the basis for a work as he was developing ideas for a new kind of opera. The composer’s approach to reform the operatic stage was to focus on dramatic action, with a visionary and seamless union of music, poetry, and dance.
Creators
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–87) was born in Bavaria and studied music in Prague, Milan, and Venice. He worked in opera capitals across Europe, attracting students and disciples to his philosophy of putting dramatic action first and eschewing vocal virtuosity for its own sake. Gluck’s vision of opera reform called for more attention to the libretto, which he saw as opera’s heart and soul. His librettist for Orfeo ed Euridice was the Italian poet Ranieri de’Calzabigi (1714–95), who shared Gluck’s zeal for an ideal musical theater.
Setting
The opera is set in an idealized Greek countryside and in the underworld, in mythological Antiquity.
